Verse 65 - Living by Staying Simple-Hearted

[Eva Libre]

65th Verse

 

The ancient ones were simple-hearted.

and blended with the common people.

They did not shine forth;

they did not rule with cleverness,

so the nation was blessed.

 

When they think that they know the answers,

people are difficult to guide,

When they know they do not know,

people can find their own way.

 

Not using cunning to govern a country

is good fortune for the country,

The simplest pattern is the clearest.

Content with an ordinary life,

you can show all people the way.

back to their own true nature.

Contemplation/Meditation Verse

Because I know, that I do not know,
           I will be guided to find my own way.

           
Do The Tao Now

In as many ways as possible, demonstrate your understand of what Lao-tzu meant by asking leaders to be “content with an ordinary life”.  Spend a day without the label of “parent”, “supervisor”, or “boss”, and put yourself on an equal footing with those who usually look to you for direction.  Think of yourself as one of those you lead - in fact, pretend that you are him or her for one day.  This will give you an awareness of how to put the Tao to work right away.

I've found that when I practice this with my children, they respond according to their own best and true nature.  For example, when I simply say to my teenage daughter, “I know that you're perfectly capable of being responsible and sensible while I'm out of town, and I love that about you”, I remove the “authoritarian parent” label and treat her the way I'd want to be treated.  When this becomes the norm, it's obvious that Lao-tzu is correct: “The simplest pattern is the clearest”.


Source - Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life (Living the Wisdom of the Tao) 
by Dr Wayne W Dyer

[Eva Libre]

Advice From Dr Dyer -

 

Be willing to proudly say to those in your charge,
“I don't know”.

 

This phrase is a symbol of strength rather than weakness, so use it freely. When you teach others to do the same, they'll begin to allow their highest selves to be guided by the Great Way. Keep in mind that nature never forces anything to grow, but is silently and invisibly ever present. Do the same to the best of your ability by not forcing yourself and your ideas on anyone (with sensible precautions for those too young or too immature to take on adult responsibilities).

The simple truth is that neither we nor anyone else really know what's ideal for ourselves or others. There's a silent destiny always at work; there are fortunes as well as misfortunes in every life, independent of our particular opinions.

[Eva Libre]

Advice From Dr Dyer -

 

Practice keeping your life simple and uncomplicated.

 

Model this behavior for those you feel obliged to lead. Rather than analyzing a situation from every angle, trying to come up with the most viable solution, trust your first instinct and take the simplest and least problematic route. Don't “pole-vault over mouse turds” - by the time you've discussed the many options available to you, the problem itself could have been long behind you had you simply disposed of those rodent droppings with a simple tissue and dumped them into the garbage ! Here's some great advice for you, as well as the leaders of countries who are often so mired in bureaucratic red tape that they become paralyzed: Keep it simple.

[Eva Libre]

From Vimala McClure - The Tao of Motherhood

65
EXPERTS

The ancient mothers knew. There
was no need for books and experts.

Today we have lost much.
We need to relearn the Way.

Be cautious about what the experts
tell you. What sounds complex
and clever may have no roots.
Wisdom has no cleverness in it.
It is pure and simple, and when it is
practiced the results are obvious.

The wise assist a child's being
rather than his doing.

[Eva Libre]

From Tao Te Ching - The Definitive Edition by Jonathan Star

The ancient ones were simple-hearted
and blended with the common people
They did not shine forth
The did not rule with cleverness
So the nation was blessed

Now the rulers are filled with clever ideas
and the lives of people are filled with hardship
So the nation is cursed

He who knows the play of Tao and Te
knows the nature of the universe
Tao brings forth Te from its own being
Te expands in all directions
filling every corner of the world
becoming the splendor of all creation
Yet at every moment Te seeks Tao
This is the movement that guides the universe
This is the impulse
that leads all things back home

[Eva Libre]

From Richard Grossman - The Tao of Emerson

From James Legge - The Texts of Taoism, 1891

The ancients who showed their skill in practicing the Tao
did so not to enlighten the people,
But rather to make them simple and ignorant.

The difficulty in governing the people arises
from their having much knowledge.
Who tries to govern the state by his wisdom
is a scourge to it;
While he who does not try to do so is a blessing.

He who knows these two things finds in them
also his model and rule.
Ability to know this model and rule
constitutes what we call
the mysterious excellence of a governor.
Deep and far-reaching is such mysterious excellence,
Showing indeed its possessor as opposite to others,
But leading them to a great conformity to him.

From the Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson - ”Politics”

As fast as the public mind is opened
to more intelligence,
The code is seen to be brute and stammering.

The wise know that the State must follow and not lead
the character and progress of the citizen.
The strongest usurper is quickly got rid of,
And that form of government which prevails
Is the expression of what cultivation exists
in the population which permits it.

The history of the State sketches in coarse outline
the progress of thought.
And follows at a distance the delicacy
of culture and aspiration.

[Eva Libre]

Tao Te Ching - The Classic Book of Integrity and The Way by Lao-Tzu

A New Translation by Victor H Mair

based on the recently discovered Ma-Wang-Tui Manuscripts

 

65 (28)

 

     The ancients who practiced the Way

          did not enlighten the people with it;

     They used it, rather, to stupefy them.

     The people are hard to rule

          because they have too much knowledge.

Therefore,

     Ruling a state through knowledge is to rob the state,

     Ruling a state through ignorance

               brings integrity to the state.

     One who is always mindful of these two types

               grasps a paradigm;

     Mindfulness of this paradigm is called "mysterious integrity".

     Deep and distant is this mysterious integrity !

     It runs counter to things

          until it teaches the great confluence.

[Eva Libre]

Lynn's - Daode jing of Laozi

 

Those in antiquity who were good at practicing the Dao did not use it to make the common folk intelligent but used it to make them stupid.

 

"Intelligent" [ming] means that much knowledge and clever duplicity obscure their pristine simplicity [pu].  "Stupid" [yu] means that freedom from knowledge and preservation of authenticity [zhen] allow them to follow the Natural [ziran].

 

The reason the common folk are hard to govern is that they have too much knowledge.

 

Too much knowledge and clever duplicity make them hard to govern.

 

Thus to use knowledge to govern the state is to bring about the theft of the state. (1)

 

Zhi [knowledge] is used here as if it meant "governance" [zhi].  The reason the term "theft" is applied to the state is that it is governed by the use of knowledge.  Thus the term "knowledge" is used [instead of "governance"].  "The reason the common folk are hard to govern is that they have too much knowledge."  One should ensure that he blocks up their apertures and shuts their doors (2) so that the common folk stay free of knowledge and desire.  If, instead, one tries to motivate them through knowledge and methods [zhishu], once this incites their hearts/minds to evil, such a one will have to use ever more clever methods to try to keep their dishonest activities under check.  However, because the common folk understand how these methods work, they will take protective steps and manage to avoid them. (3)  The more thinking becomes secretive and clever, the more treachery will proliferate.  Thus the text says: "to use knowledge to govern the state is to bring about the theft of the state."

Not to use knowledge to govern the state is to enrich the state.  One should understand these two, for they constitute a consistent rule.  Constant understanding of this consistent rule is called "mysterious virtue".  Mysterious virtue is indeed profound, indeed far-reaching !

 

Ji [consistent] means tong [same].  Because it is a rule that is the same for both ancient and modern times, it must not be abandoned.  The ability to understand this consistent rule is called "mysterious virtue". (4)  "Mysterious virtue is indeed profound, indeed far-reaching !"

Such a one helps the people revert,

 

They revert to their authenticity [zhen].

For only then will perfect compliance be attained.

 

 

Text, in Italics above, is Wang Bi's commentary.

The notes below, are from the translator, Richard John Lynn -

(deb's note - "section" is used for verse in these notes.)

 

(1) Cf. section 57.

(2)  Cf. section 52, third passage.

(3)  This seems to criticize the Han Fei zi, which states: "One who uses knowledge and methods [zhishu] must see far and scrutinize clearly.  If you cannot scrutinize clearly, he will be unable to bring clandestine behavior to light" (4:1128B [section 11]).

(4)  Cf. section 51, last passage.

[Eva Libre]

From Stephen Mitchell - tao te ching - A New English Version

The ancient Masters
didn't try to educate the people,
but kindly taught them to not-know.

When they think that they know the answers,
people are difficult to guide.
When they know that they don't know,
people can find their own way.

If you want to learn how to govern,
avoid being clever or rich.
The simplest pattern is the clearest.
Content with an ordinary life,
you can show all people the way
back to their own true nature.

From Byron Katie - A Thousand Names For Joy - Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

When they think that they know the answers,
people are difficult to guide.
When they know that they don't know,
people can find their own way.

 

I don't try to educate people. Why would I do such a thing ? My only job is to point you back to yourself. When you discover - inside yourself, behind everything you're thinking - the marvelous don't-know mind, you're home free. The don't-know mind is the mind that is totally open to anything life brings you. When you find it, you have found your way.

I work with four- and five-year-old children who suffer from believing the same concepts that adults believe. These concepts are sacred religions; we're completely devoted to them. “People should come”, “People should go”, “People should understand me”, “I'm too this”, “You're too that”, “My wife shouldn't lie”, “My children should appreciate me”, “My husband doesn't love me”, “My mother would be much happier if she saw things the way I do”. Whatever story we're attached to, that's where our devotion is. There's no room for God in it.

I once worked with a woman in Jerusalem. Her religion was “I should have thin thighs”; she thought that's what would give her what she wanted in life. She was the cutest ! And she just wasn't willing to do The Work; she couldn't go inside for an honest answer, because she was terrified that if she answered honestly, she'd end up with fat thighs. She thought she needed fear as a motivation to exercise and eat right. It was obvious that she preferred thin thighs to freedom. She wouldn't take the risk of letting go of control and going deep into herself to see what her own truth was. For her, the sacred concept was thin thighs; for someone else it's more money, for others it's a relationship. I love being with these people. They say they want freedom more than anything in the world, and they cry and beg for help. And as soon as I get anywhere near their sacred concept, these spiritual seekers, who have been on the path for thirty or forty years, have no interest in freedom. Zero. Their true religion has been threatened, and they rush to the ramparts to defend it. I asked her, “Can you absolutely know that it's true that right now your thighs should be thinner than they are ?” And you'd be amazed at how fast this woman dodged away. She didn't stop to really ask herself the question, not for an instant. “Yes, I can !” she said. Slam ! The gate shuts, the drawbridge goes up, the I-know mind retreats behind its castle walls, ready to defend itself against the whole world. That's why I love to ask someone who sits with me, “Do you really want to know the truth ?”

The education you need is within you. How can what is already within you be taught ? It can only be realized. If you're willing to go inside and wait for the truth, your inborn wisdom meets the question, and the answer rings true as if it were a tuning fork inside your own being.

When you believe that there is a problem, the Master doesn't try to convince you that there isn't. She is rooted in the place of understanding. She is you reflected back to yourself. She understands that problems are not possible, except when you believe what you're thinking. Only mind lives, if anything lives. The Master will always point you back to your own mind, your own realization. And a part of the deliciousness is to fully meet every suicidal tendency until, in the presence of the Master within you, the self is finally seen for what it isn't.

So the confused mind comes to unlearn its troubling thought through inquiry. It comes not only to see that the thought isn't true, but also to understand the specific effects of believing it, the price in anger or sorrow or resentment that it pays when it believes the thought, and the freedom that would be available without it, and it sees also that the thought's opposites could be at least as true. Eventually it realizes that reality is all mind and that the world changes as its perception changes. To meet the Master with a fearless, open mind is to lose the entire world as you understood it to be. It is to unlearn a cruel world, a world of ravagement, a world where the heart's desire is never attained.

When people think that they know the answers, it's difficult for the Master to help them find their way, because she is dealing with closed minds, and a closed mind is a closed heart. Since she understands that openness never can be forced, she becomes very comfortable and listens, she waits for an opening, the slightest crack, and that is when she penetrates. That is the moment of meeting, of indisputable connection. The other person can close the door, but it's too late, the Master has already entered. And in that instant of entering, everything is changed. Enough clarity gets in to be recognized, and the mind can never be the same again, because like has met like. The two have become one.

Once the Master moves in through that even slightly open door, the student's mind continues to expand, and the natural way to himself appears. It may seem as if he can revert to his former world, but that's not possible. When the mind has seen that it doesn't know what it was so sure of, it begins to unravel, the knots relax and begin to untie themselves. This leaves no job for the Master. It leaves her as no one again.

[Eva Libre]

Dr Dyer's Essay for Verse 65 -

If you are currently in the important position of ruling a country, I encourage you to take this wisdom especially to heart. If you're not, I suggest studying this passage of the Tao Te Ching from the perspective of your personal life, which most likely involves leading others.

Supervising or parenting shouldn't mean imposing bureaucratic rules or impressing others with your supposed intelligence and superiority. A truly influential person isn't cunning, doesn't “shine forth”, “rule with cleverness”, or instill fear in those he or she is designated to oversee. As Lao-tzu explains, “When they know they do not know, people can find their own way”. In other words, the effective leader guides others to their own nature.

The realization you're invited to consider here is that your job is to help others know that they don't know ! If they believe that they do have knowledge, then they'll never find their way back to their Tao nature. That's because they're relying on ego input, which tells them that their true essence is their identification with the physical or material world. One who lives according to the Tao knows that ego is a false master, drawing people away from knowing their true nature.

Implement the teachings of this verse by refusing to convey superiority or intellectual ingenuity. Instead, show others how to live from the Tao perspective by being willing to admit that you don't know what's best for them, nor do you even know with any degree of certainty how your own life should go. Let other people know that you're willing to ask for guidance. Show them that you're not “in charge”, either of them or of what happens to you. Allow them to see a man or woman who's humble, lives peacefully in the cycles of life, and stays simple-hearted.

As you change the way you look at leadership, you'll see that individuals who are willing to surrender their egos enjoy a connection to their Tao energy and become simple-hearted leaders. Their only task is to help everyone in their sphere of influence realize that they also do not know ! Lao-tzu seems to smile wryly as he informs you of this wondrous paradox.